Washington Winch - 1939 salvage logging near Noojee

The Washington Winch sits in the forests of eastern

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

near Swifts Creek and is also known as the Washington Iron Works Skidder. Its rusting relics are close to Bentley Plain and the Moscow Villa hut which was built in 1942 by firetower man Thomas William Ah Chow. It was a

steam-powered A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tr ...

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

skidder A skidder is any type of heavy vehicle used in a logging operation for pulling cut trees out of a forest in a process called "skidding", in which the logs are transported from the cutting site to a landing. There they are loaded onto trucks (o ...

, or cable

winch A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable"). In its simplest form, it consists of a spool (or drum) attache ...

. It was one of two machines imported to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in the 1920s and was initially used by the Karri Timber Company to move the large

jarrah ''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, djarraly in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with roug ...

logs. It burnt wood as fuel. Both winches were sold to the

Forests Commission Victoria The Forests Commission Victoria (FCV) was the main government authority responsible for management and protection of State forests in Victoria, Australia between 1918 and 1983. The Commission was responsible for ″forest policy, prevention and ...

for salvaging timber in the Central Highland on the Toorongo Plateau near

Noojee Noojee is a town in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia, north of Warragul and east of Melbourne, in the Baw Baw local government area. At the 2016 census, Noojee and the surrounding area had a population of 157. The town benefits from ...

after the 1939 Black Friday fires. The machines were able to move large logs up to 800 m by high-lead cables in the wet and steep terrain. They were also capable of lifting logs off the ground, over rocks and creeks back to a central landing. The machine near Swifts creek was later sold and moved to its present site by local sawmilling company Ezards in 1959 where it operated until 1960-61. A large logging camp supported men operating the machine. The fate of the second machine is unknown. The advent of more powerful bulldozers, crawler tractors, haulage trucks and petrol chainsaws dramatically changed logging practices after WW2. It then became feasible for machines to harvest logs and for trucks to haul them directly from the forest to town-based sawmills within a few hours. The new diesel and petrol technology eventually made steam power and the Washington Winch redundant. The winch remains a unique part of Victoria's cultural heritage and logging history; left intact with engine, spars and cabling still rigged for work it is the only steam-powered engine of its kind in Australia. It is listed on the

Victorian Heritage Register The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. H ...

, and is managed and protected by local staff at Swifts Creek employed by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP). A roof was put over the winch to protect it from the elements, the original spars had rotted and were replaced with messmate poles and new cables were restrung in about 1999.

Washington Iron Works

Washington Iron Works was a company in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, founded by John M. Frink, that built these steam skidders. The company was active from 1882 until the 1980s when its various divisions – manufacturing cranes, logging equipment, and presses – were gradually sold off. The Works closed in 1986. Washington Iron Works engines revolutionised steam logging in the 1920s and 1930s. The steam-powered winches were mounted on heavy log skid frames which allowed the winch to be transported to new sites. Many Washington skidders can still be seen in North America.

Operation

The Washington Winch operated either a '' high lead'' or a ''skyline'' system. The high lead system was not often used as it only partially lifted the logs off the ground, which caused the logs to become caught in rocks, and left behind a "snig track", which deepened over time. The skyline system involved two large spars (trees) used to create a "flying fox" to lift logs over the rough ground. Riggers climbed 60 m up a large tree and headed the trunk, which would cause the tree to sway violently. They then secured the spar with guy cables and attached the tackle. This operation was dangerous and physically demanding, often taking a full day, with lunch sent up on a rope. The Washington Winch was used to harvest

Alpine Ash Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

logs which was then sawn to produce high-value products such as furniture, flooring and architraves at Ezards mill at Swifts Creek.

Gallery

File:Cable logging terms - Victoria.jpg, Cable logging terms File:Cable logging terms in Victoria. North bend skyline and high lead.jpg, Cable logging terms File:Cable logging terms in Victoria. Using bull wheel.jpg, Cable logging terms File:Cable Logging. Charlie Wall. High lead climber.jpg, Charlie Wall - high lead climber File:Cable logging. Topping tree for high lead operations.jpg, Tree topping to prepare cables File:Cable logging. Aerial ropeway for logging. Thomson Valley Erica district.jpg, Cable logging ropeway - Thomson valley File:Cable logging and loading rig in mountain ash country. Thomson Valley.jpg, Cable logging File:Cable Logging - Ground snigging with steam winch.jpg, Snigging logs with steam winch File:Cable Logging - Dumping with steam winch Saxton's East Tanjil.jpg, Log dump operated by steam winch at Saxton's Mill- East Tanjil.

References

Information panel at site

External links

McHugh, Peter. (2020). Forests and Bushfire History of Victoria : A compilation of short stories, Victoria. https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2899074696/view FCRPA - Forests Commission Retired Personnel Association (Peter McHugh) - https://victoriasforestryheritage.org.au

{{Forestry tools Logging in the United States Forestry equipment Forestry in Australia Forestry in the United States Logging in Australia Victorian Heritage Register Shire of East Gippsland